Tag: MainSlideNews

{Indian Luxmi Company to invest over 25 Billion francs in Karongi following the signing of a cooperation agreement on 13 July 2017, between the Ministry of Agriculture and Luxmi Tea Company Ltd.
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Speaking after the signing of the agreement, the minister of agriculture and livestock Dr.Mukeshimana Gerardine said that the agreement will be valid for 49 years. At the beginning, this project will take $ 30 million in investment, for a ten-year duration.

Luxmi Tea industry started its operations in 1912; it is famous for making high-quality tea, where it has some tea blend worth US$ 1000 per kg, depending on the quality and originality.

Rwanda Development Board had an active role regarding the coordination of business consultations that culminated in the signing of the final deal.
In regard, RDB pointed out that the project is an important contribution in regard to the promotion of ‘’ ‘’MADE IN RWANDA’’

The Chief Executive officer of RDB, Clare Akamanzi said, “This project will play an important role in the national program of increasing the exports, and through this project, we wish to Rwanda’ flag high through increasing the number of products made in Rwanda.”

The managing Director of Luxmi Tea Company, Rudra Chatterjee said that they are well prepared to work with the government of Rwanda as far as promoting Rwandan’s tea, which is traditional, known for its incomparable taste.

The Director of agricultural exports products NAEB, Ambassador Bill Kayonga reiterated that through this project they intend to process tea amounting to 8-9 tons of tea annually, whereas the anticipated revenues range between 28-30 US$.

This tea will be processed through Rugabano tea factory, and it is expected to positively transform the social welfare of more than 40,000, through employment opportunities they will acquire as a result.

In addition, an agreement has been signed between British Development Fund (DFID) and Woods Foundation Africa, over 6.8 million pounds was offered to be used to help over 7000 tea farmers in Rugabano sector in Karongi.

{We shall explain why we have not realized everything we promised, says FPR Secretary General Ngarambe}

François Ngarambe the RPF- Inkontanyi Secretary-General has said that the ruling party will explain why the party has not realized everything they promised to do for Rwandans.

Rwandans will cast their votes on August 4, 2017, while the Presidential Elections campaigns are set to kick-off on Friday, July 14th for the period twenty days.
The ruling party is expected to kick-off the Presidential campaigns in Ruhango District in the Southern Province.

RPF-Inkontanyi SG explained that there is no special reason why they will start from Southern Province, but it’s just a mere change.

“President Kagame will campaign in all the districts in the country depending on the size of each constituency and if necessary in two districts at same day depending on its scope. The election campaigns will be full of novelty; in fact, the guidelines to be followed will demonstrate what Rwandans desire.”

The RPF-Inkontanyi SG further pointed out that while the President will be campaigning in several different parts of the country, other party members and volunteers will be reaching out to the grassroots levels, villages, sectors, cells and house to house.

Mr.Ngarambe further repulsed the complaints from some presidential aspirants who complained that election campaign period is short, saying that “The two week period allotted by electoral authorities is ample.”

{Over three hundred election observers from different parts of the world are monitoring the 2017 Presidential election campaigns that began Friday 14th, 2017.}

Prof Kalisa Mbande the President of the National Election Commission (NEC) has told the media since the candidates are campaigning; the observers have begun to perform their duty.

“There are observers monitoring the elections, while others are following up the campaigns deeds. Now we have over 307 from different Africa, Asia, as well as Europe. Over 10% are foreigners.

Just like how it was in 2010, the EU in May this year said that it will not send an observer mission to Rwanda since they had sent them to other countries holding elections.

When Prof Kalisa was reminded he replied that all observers have where they’re assigned to go but they can still visit other places but are not allowed to make a report.

“Except, every candidate or independent political party is allowed to have a minimum of one observer.” He explained

NEC established 2,326 polling sites, while the polling stations will are 16,018 where voters will cast their votes.

Election campaigns kicked-off on Friday, July 14th and will concluded on August 3rd a day before the Rwandan make their choice.

Three candidates campaigning are: Incumbent President Paul Kagame representing FPR Inkontanyi, Dr. Frank Habinenza from the Democratic Green Party and Phillippe Mpayimana

Located at Kimihurura opposite the magnificent Kigali Heights and the Convention Center, Top Tower Hotel was closed on July 12, 2016, over standards queries.

In an interview with IGIHE on Tuesday evening, Fred Mugisha an official from Kigali City said that the building did not meet construction standards and not in line with the Kigali Master Plan.

“The Kigali Master Plan around the Kimihurua roundabout requires well developed commercial units that meet international construction standards.”

Officials from the City of Kigali have said that they have been working closely with the plot owners around Kimihurura, KBC roundabout to redevelop their plots to fit into the urban City Plan. It is, however, not yet clear what will be constructed on the plot formerly occupied by the hotel.

{{The Prime MinisterAnastaseMurekezihas reminded prosecution that their duty is inseparable from upholding human rights and all its legal obligations.}}

The Premier made the comments during the swearing IN of two prosecutors; Didiera Rudahusha prosecutor on intermediate court and Kayitesi Claudine, a prosecutor of premier instance court, both of whom were confirmed by the cabinet on 26 May 2017 and received on 10th July 2017.

Murekezi said; “your responsibility demands you to be upright, which must be supplemented by proper application of your consciousness, so that all the judgments you will be making should be characterized by justice, which is approved by the citizenry you serve.”

The Premier requested prosecution to apply Information technology in order to help them speed up their duties, on top of offering proper service delivery, most especially in regard to cases of 1994 genocide suspects, who are still at large in different countries.

He said that, there are crimes regarding murder, gender based violence among households, there crimes regarding child impregnation crimes that devastate national economy including corruption, swindling national resources, and failure to pay back bank loans and micro finance institutions.”

{He didn’t do it when US President Donald Trump met with President Reuven Rivlin last month; nor did he do it when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with President Rivlin last week. But when it came to Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showed up at the President’s Residence on Monday to join in greeting his Rwandan friend and colleague.
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It is not uncommon for the prime minister to attend a state dinner hosted by the president of Israel in honor of the president of the United States or the president of India, but as a rule there is a division of labor and Netanyahu stays out of Rivlin’s domain and Rivlin stays out of Netanyahu’s.

The fact that the prime minister chose to deviate from this custom on Monday was the most telling sign of the value that Israel places on its relationship with Rwanda in general and with Kagame in particular.
Rivlin and Netanyahu went out together to meet Kagame as his car pulled to a stop in the presidential compound.

The three then stood at attention for the national anthems played by a military band and subsequently, escorted by Foreign Ministry Chief of Protocol Meron Reuben, they strode along the red carpet into the reception hall where Netanyahu credited Kagame with helping to pave the way for Israel’s return to Africa.
It all began with his conversation with Kagame, said Netanyahu. Thanks in part to Kagame’s help, Netanyahu will make his third trip to Africa in a span of less than three years.

Turning to Kagame he said: “You were the indispensable bridge on which we marched step by step to return to Africa.”

Part of the mutual understanding between Israel and Rwanda is a shared tragic legacy that was referred to by both Rivlin and Netanyahu. Israelis live with the memory of the Holocaust, and Rwandans with the memory of the carnage of genocide in their country in which more than a million people, including women and children, were butchered.

The peoples of both countries have pledged “Never again!” said Netanyahu..
Both he and Rivlin also expressed appreciation for the way in which Rwanda stands up for Israel at international forums.

Rivlin said that he knew that this was not Kagame’s first visit to Israel, but he was also aware that this visit would serve to strengthen the existing deep relationship. He also noted how pleased Israel was that Kagame in an address to AIPAC had said that Israel is without question a friend of Rwanda.

Rivlin also noted that Rwanda is now a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council “that has always been against Israel.” He implied that with Rwanda’s influence this may change.

Kagame said that he was very pleased to be back in Israel to reaffirm the blossoming relationship.

He also praised Israel for following through on commitment which it had made to Rwanda.

{The National Electoral Commission (NEC) has released the final list of three qualified candidates as incumbent President Paul Kagame, Frank Habineza and Philippe Mpayimana.
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It shows the incumbent Paul Kagame of RPF Inkotanyi, Dr Frank Habineza representing Democratic Green Party of Rwanda and an independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana.

These three are among 6 candidates in total who submitted their credentials to The National Electoral Commission.

Diane Rwigara, BarafindaSegikubo Fred, and Gilbert Mwenedata are disqualified for not fulfilling the required conditions such as the acquisition of 600 signatures.
Only one candidate who was not on the provisional list is an independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana.

The confirmation was done basing on the 99th article regulating the elections.
The President of the NEC Prof MbandaKalisa said that the inspection has shown that Rwigara Diane presented forged signatures of dead people. Diane Rwigara, BarafindaSegikubo Fred, and Gilbert Mwenedata are disqualified.

Barafinda was unable to get the 600 signatures as he got 350 people while Diane got 572 valid signatures.

{For the first, the documentary film ‘Inkotanyi” by French director Christophe Cotteret will be showing in Kigali on Saturday, July 8 at Century Cinema.
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The documentary sheds light on the life of this politico-military movement and on Rwandan power structures, through the voices of its principal actors.

The heroes were called the Inkotanyi. They were led by the current president of Rwanda, Paul Kagame.

Production of the documentary began in Rwanda, with the history of Paul Kagame and the politico-military movement FPR (Rwandan Patriotic Front).

It was first shown at Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels or FIPA festival that occurred in March in France.

But it had previously been unveiled at the cultural festival, Festival Visions du Réel in Nyon, in May 2013. And from then it has become a showcase in different countries and to more than 25 festivals in the US and Europe.

Christophe Cotteret is a Paris 1976-born director known for a good encounter with political reality documentaries namely: Democracy Year Zero and Ennahdha about the Tunisian revolution and its consequences.

{President Paul Kagame has urged the private sector to do more to improve tertiary education on the African continent.}

Kagame made the remarks in his keynote speech on today during the official opening of the Sustainable Development Goals Center for Africa forum (SDGC/A) at Radisson Blu Hotel and Convention Center in Kigali.

Held under the theme “Mobilizing African Intellectuals Towards Quality Tertiary Education”, the two-day summit meeting is an effort aimed to convene major stakeholders for essential discussions on major themes relevant to SDG implementation in tertiary education and research throughout Africa.

As a platform for intellectuals’ engagement, the workshop is specifically designed for the field of actors who are exposed to Africa’s higher education bottlenecks in their daily professional lives.

In his speech, Kagame said that there has been much progress in the education sector in recent years, including through the catalyst that was the Millennium Development Goals. In particular, he noted, access to education has greatly improved.

“This is important to acknowledge because it shows that we can do it. But it is not enough to support the ambition we have for our continent. More children are attending school but Africa needs much more graduates with knowledge and skills, to grow and sustain our economies, and shape the future of the continent.”

“This is far from what is required to end poverty and instability, achieve prosperity, or even sustain our dignity as human beings. We, therefore, have to find ever more innovative ways to attract needed resources from the private sector,” the President said.

Experts say Africa universities currently function in very difficult circumstances amidst social, economic and political problems facing the continent and in the context of globalization.

To overcome these challenges Kagame said that the role of government in setting education policies, and as the primary funder of education will and has to continue. However, governments alone, even with the right levels of financial allocation to the sector and the support of development partners, cannot sustain the momentum needed.

“We, therefore, have to find ever more innovative ways to attract needed resources from the private sector. This is especially because businesses have a vested interest in the quality of graduates and the skills they bring to the market.”

On this, he explained that modern technology including ICT presents unprecedented opportunities to overcome barriers to delivering information and skills to the population. In particular, how affordable broadband will open up new pathways to world-class education, and vastly improve global collaboration on research.

“Our responsibility now is to work together to create the right conditions for delivery of the twenty-first Century education that everyone deserves, in order that we may all benefit from their talents.” He added

By compound rankings, Africa is reported to have only ten universities among the top 1,000 universities in the world which experts say echoes the pretty low quality. Besides over US$4 billion is spent per annum to employ over 100,000 western experts to provide technical assistance.

Dr. Belay Begashaw, the director general of the SDG Center for Africa, condemned the fact that solving many of African problems is often done by outsourcing intellectuals outside the continent.

On this, he said; “This this is unacceptable. We have to do things differently,” Begashaw observed, adding; “The challenges faced can be addressed if all stakeholders worked together.